Kizuna — Of Me And You
by LittleKrus
Summary: The inevitable has arrived: where Touko learns of N's identity, where Touya faces defeat for the very first time, and where the wheels of fate begin to spin — all for the legend of Tao Trio. FerrisWheelShipping.


_Zekrom and Reshiram  
two different faces, yet the same  
one stands on the side of ideals, while the other, of truth  
each breathe life from a single body, splitting into eventual twins  
although they have once fought over their beliefs  
they can never be separated  
and soon, they will be reborn again_

_however, in the world of black and white_  
_there is always a shade of grey_  
_a neglected third dragon_  
_the remains of that original body, waiting to be completed_  
_waiting, for someone to fill its hollow...  
_

* * *

**Truth VS Ideals  
**_**Prologue: Zekrom's Awakening**_

* * *

Anger, deceived, confused — they were the only three words that could depict Touko's imminent feelings as the man before her delivered the demolishing news: Natural was N, the king of Team Plasma. He towered a good foot above her; his red eyes were regarding the girl with both smugness and amusement as to what her next reaction would be.

_Natural is N...? No... It can't be..._

"Foolish girl," he paused for effect. "Face it: Natural is an alias used by our lord N to trick you. _All. This. While._" He had spoken those last three words in such tone that one could be sure that he was mocking her.

_Lord N...? But he is... my friend, right...?_

Touko's peaceful world at that very moment had crumbled, shattering into fragments of acute sadness and hatred; her facial expression mirrored that of a confused Psyduck, but her emotions were edged more towards the ignited flames of a raging Typhlosion. Even the cold winters of Icirrus City could never be compared to her current sorrow, but rather, their snows could melt under those literal flames of hate that were building up inside her.

_He_ could have revealed it earlier, but he chose not to. He just had to wait till the moment was right — when _their_ friendship had ripened. After all, revealing it too soon would diminish the effect of seeing her despair as betrayal crept its way into her life. He was certainly a sadist, one might say. And who else would be more sadistic than this man known as Ghetsis?

"I-I don't believe you..." Touko managed. She refused to believe that N — or Natural, in her case — would lie to her, not with all the times she had spent with him before, and definitely not when she had just gotten to know him better. But perhaps, right now, that could all be just a façade on his side.

"You are gullible enough to think that our king will make friends with someone as puny as you are. He is only using you to get closer to that other foolish boy."

_Our king...? Natural..._

Biting her lip, Touko curled her fingers into a ball, controlling an ire that was directed more towards herself than Ghetsis. She hated herself for being so dumb, for not realizing earlier that she was being used for someone else's scheme.

That other foolish boy whom Ghetsis had mentioned earlier was clearly inclined towards her twin brother, Touya — who was presumed to be the other hero of the Unova legend. The twin brunettes, however, had started their journey at different times of the year, with Touya venturing first, so the probability of him meeting N before Touko was pretty high. She wouldn't deny that what _he _had said actually made sense, now that she actually_ thought_ about it...

**. . .**_  
_

_Within the tranquility of Pinwheel Forest, a young brunette fumbled her way through the twisted paths as light slowly gave way to darkness, beckoning its nocturnal creatures to come out for prey. She feared of being attack, despite having a Pokémon of her own, which she hugged it closely to her chest to find assurance in the deep dark forest..._

_"Great. Now I'm lost..." Touko complained, stopping in her tracks._

_"Purr...~" The Purrloin in her arms let out a long, shrill yawn as tiredness fell over her._

_"Ami, you can't sleep yet..." the brunette pleaded, tightening her grip around the dark-type. She scanned the forest with frightful eyes, hearing occasional rustles that signaled the possible appearance of a wild Pokémon._

_A cold hand tapped the Trainer's shoulder, which elicited a yelp from her. Whipping around, she recognized the familiar face immediately: the tea green hair, the creamy smooth face, the soft grey eyes... He shuddered from her sudden movement as well, though his eyes remained fixed on her. "I-I'm sorry to have startled you..."_

_"Oh, thank Arceus it's just you," Touko sighed in relief. "So... Hey?"_

_"Hi."_

_. . ._

_"What are you doing here?"_

_"Traveling."_

_"Oh."_

_. . ._

_The silence held an uneasy feeling; their conversation was awkwardly short. And neither knew how to start a conversation ever since their previous encounter, so they stood in silence for a long, long, while..._

_Until Touko decided to break it off. "Say... We still don't know each other's name yet... I'm Touko. What's yours?"_

_"... My name is..." he paused for a while, pondering over the question he feared most; one that he should've prepared an answer for much earlier. In the end, he chose to give her an answer which he secretly knew that was not entirely true, yet not entirely false __— he gave his real name, for the very first time... "Natural..."_

_Touko blinked profusely. "That's an... interesting name."_

_"Thank you...?"_

_"You're welcome...?"_

_. . ._

_"So... Are you lost as well?" Touko managed again._

_"Yeah, kind of..."_

_"Don't you have anything else to say to me?"_

_"Not really..." N conceded. Lowering his head in apprehension, he twirled his fingers, suggesting, "But it's getting late. We should rest for the night."_

_Touko was skeptical at first about camping a night with someone she didn't knew very well, though she agreed ultimately. He seemed decent enough... "Okay."_

_. . ._

_The two Trainers sat on the soft grass patch, each munching on their meal silently as they watched the small campfire flickered in the night. Every time they meet, they really never had any 'true' conversation, but N felt like changing it today. He put down his meal and asked, "Touko?"_

_"Hmm?" the said girl stopped munching and looked up._

_"Do you feel alone sometimes?"_

_"Not really..." Touko was taken aback by his question. "I always have my brother around..."_

_"I see... That's nice," N stated, gaze softening. "Don't you two travel together?"_

_"Nope. He left in his journey earlier than me, so we go on our separate paths."_

_"Can you tell me more about him?"_

_"Hmm... He's very protective of me, but pretty impulsive too. You know? He'd even quarreled with my mother just so that he can set off on his journey earlier. Because of that, Mom kept crying after he'd left... And of course, I had to clean up his mess," Touko joked as she said the last sentence._

_"Well, he's quite a heartless one, I would say," N replied, not seemingly to catch the friendly tone._

_"No, no. He's actually very kind. And he loves Pokémon too..." Touko began to tell him about her life back at Nuvema Town, setting aside her meal as she continued to tell him more about her brother. She then proceeded to tell him about her mother, and even her friends (Cheren and Bel); all this while, N listened attentively._

_. . ._

_"Well, enough about me now. What about you, Natural?"_

_"Me? I don't have much to share..."_

_"But surely you must have friends and family?"_

_"Yeah, kind of..." N replied._

_The brunette pouted slightly; she was hoping to know more about his background. "Is it just towards me? Or do you always have so little to say towards everyone?"_

_N casted a glance upwards, looking at the starry night sky, as if unknowing how to reply. After another few seconds of silence, he spoke again, "I'm sorry... But I really don't know how to communicate well with humans..."_

_"What do you mean?" She blinked in surprise._

_"Since young, I never had any interaction with humans before; my father kept me confined at home, all day and night. He couldn't bother to talk to me much either... I was... always alone."_

_"That's... pretty sad..." Touko admitted, beginning to give her full attention to N. "Then how do you spend your days?"_

_"Well..." the greenette hesitated to tell her more, but looking into her eyes had only made him gave in; they were full of eagerness __— eagerness to learn more. His tone, however, became more serious, "Every day, my father would bring in injured Pokémon who had been hurt by brutal Trainers; they had become my only companions after I'd nursed them to health... My friends..."_

_Touko unconsciously hugged her knees as she continued to listen to his saddening history._

_"I couldn't do anything to help them when they are in need, especially when they've helped me so much throughout my years. I blame it on my weakness that I couldn't protect them before... I do, however, plan to change that. Humans are very cruel. How can they mistreat such wonderful creatures? It's just not fair! But__—" he paused, realizing that he had just revealed all his past to this young brunette who sat across him. Perhaps he might have spoken too much..._

_"But...?"_

_N decided to continue anyway, speaking almost as soft as a whisper, "But, at least... you seem like an exception..."_

_Touko didn't reply; only a hint of blush spread across her face. He was so enraged when he had talked about Trainers mistreating Pokémon, but his last line was so gentle... and was spoken with such fondness... However, N's words had made her rethink about her past adventures. She was always surrounded by friends and family; she could never imagine how life would be like without them. Such things were always being taken for granted. But this brave man had conquered it, even though he sounded so... so..._

_... so lonely..._

_The silence hung for the next few minutes with neither speaking another word. As an attempt to cheer up the atmosphere, Touko shot up, chirping, "Alone? Not anymore!"_

_N looked up at her in bewilderment. What had she meant by that?_

_Touko held out a hand towards him, beaming, "From today onwards, Touko and Natural are officially friends~!"_

_Now, the young man was speechless, gawking at the perky Trainer. Finally, he managed, "We are?"_

_"Of course!" she cheered, motioning her fingers, as if urging him to take it._

_"You know, you are the first person whom I've told my past before," he laughed. Sliding a hand into hers, he stood up, finally accepting her invitation as a friend. And for the first time in a while, he smiled __— a sincere smile that he silently knew would never last long._

_The brunette smiled back. And back then, Touko was sure that she wouldn't regret saying that in the future..._

**. . .**

Those fresh memories remained vivid in Touko's mind, as if they had just happened yesterday. However, this act of reminiscing had only initiated her tear glands, though she held them back. She wouldn't want to cry in front of Ghetsis; it would mean that he had succeeded in making her felt despair — something which she didn't want to approve in front of an enemy. Deep down, however, the pain of betrayal was asphyxiating her.

And even though she had been warned by her brother of the said king before, she had always known N under the alias Natural instead — yes, a façade, indeed. It was no wonder why N would do that; after all, she had a brother as _his _nemesis. If he had told her that he was N, Touko wouldn't have trusted him. He had most probably known her identity long before she knew his, and chances were that he had approached her just to get more information about her brother from her. That mere thought had only intensified her already agonizing rage, fists clenching so hard that they trembled agitatedly.

_N is... Team Plasma's king...!_

Yes, Touko had finally admitted that fact. When she did not utter a word of reply, however, Ghetsis spoke again, smirking, "If you head to the Dragonspiral Tower now, you might just witness the awakening of Zekrom..."

Touko's eyes widened with shock. _The legendary dragon is going to be reborn again?_

And to add on her surprise, he continued, "... or the defeat of your _dearest _brother..."

He succeeded, seeing that her eyes widened further.

"... in the hands of our _lord _N," he finished.

Touko could not hold her anxiety one second longer, fearing for her brother's safety, so she sped off towards the said destination as fast as she could.

Ghetsis's gaze followed her direction as he released a sardonic laugh — satisfied with his accomplishments — and walked away...

**. . .**

"N, stop! You don't know what you're doing!" Touya shouted, alarmed that the man standing in front of him had just pocketed out a black-coloured stone.

The solid in N's hands began vibrating violently, absorbing black auras of the atmosphere, as if using them to escalate into the air. Unknown energies were being sucked into the stone in four directions. Murmuring with both awe and fascination, his pair of grey eyes traced along its movement as it gathered more forces around it, "My dream... It's coming true..."

By the time it had stopped in midair, a huge aura had shrouded it. Usually, such aura radiated evil and darkness, but this particular aura radiated immense power and pure electricity. The Dark Stone was now ready, ready to release the massive energy and freeing the creature that had once been sealed in its current form.

There was never a second of leeway time at all — Touya reached out for a Poké Ball from his belt, releasing it in hopes of stopping the Plasma king before the irreversible happened. Appearing from the contraption in a flash of red was his trusty partner — an Emboar.

"Buster! Take back that stone!" he ordered, pointing towards the floating, black solid.

"Em!" the fire-type enlarged the wreath of flames around his neck in reply. Flaring his nostrils and concentrating his mind, his eyes locked on his target — the Dark Stone. A large orb of red enveloped his body as he flexed his arms for power, occasionally giving off yellow energy sparks. Both Trainers could feel the rising temperature in this small range as Buster began charging forward.

N seemed rather amused at his actions but did nothing to stop. In fact, he smirked when he saw a pair of red eyes swung open...

At the point of contact, a blinding light exploded, covering the entire field with dust clouds and smoke. Once again, the greenette remained passive while Touya shielded his face from atmospheric impurities.

As the aftermath began to settle slowly, a low humming sound became audible. "Grr..."

And soon, it was obvious as to who it had belonged to.

Zekrom.

"Where's Buster?" Touya asked, flustered, though it sounded more like a rhetorical question as his vision was still blurred within the haze.

At first, there was nothing else; just a low hum. But it grew louder... "GRR..."

. . .

"GRAHHH!"

From within the smokescreen, a ball of blue light expanded in circumference — discharging furious bolts of electricity and effectively dispelling every ounce of obscurity — and that resulted in Emboar being repelled back with a painful growl. The neighbouring crag pillars were shaking under that boundless energy as well; some even crumbled into large fragments. That had only meant one thing: Dragonspiral Tower was on the verge of collapsing.

"Buster!" Touya cried, eyes widening in astonishment. Cluttering to his Pokémon's side, he lifted his back, inquiring, "Are you alright?"

"Embo..." the fire-type nodded weakly in reply.

But their peril had not ceased just yet. Standing in the middle of that circular blue light was the dragon of ideals, its turbine-like tail glowing blue and its red eyes glaring intensely at the twosome. As the light dissipated, its patronizing gaze subsided as well, and so did its tail. It shifted its eyes towards its hero instead. The Plasma king only smiled in response, cupping a hand to its face when it lowered its body, as if they held an affectionate bond that had long been forged.

Touya bit his lip in a frown at his failure; he could not prevent Zekrom's awakening, and N was nearer towards his goal than ever — to liberate Pokémon from humans. More importantly, how could he even defeat him when he had a legendary by his side now? Moments ago, his Emboar was clearly inferior in face of the deep black Pokémon, not to mention that he was his strongest Pokémon at hand too...

Everyone turned their attention towards the rushing sound of footstep, signaling the arrival of someone else. Their faces were filled with immediate horror at the person entering the scene — Touko.

Touya didn't hope for Touko to see him in this defeatist state. He had always painted an impression on her that he was the coolest and ever powerful brother. And it pained him to the core that he had broken that impression now. Moreover, this place was not safe anymore, especially not when N was with Zekrom.

The greenette, in addition to horror, was shocked. Naturally, he hadn't expected Touko to come here. And by the look of her face, she didn't seem pleased when she saw him; in fact, she was glaring daggers, and he wondered why...

Just then, a horrible thought had struck him: s_he couldn't have found out the truth about me, could she? ... But how?_

Touya ran up to his sister, hands holding her shoulders. "What are you doing here, Touko? It's dangerous!"

Touko's gaze was fixated on N, never leaving his one bit, though she replied, "I was worried about you."

Her glare was suffocating him; and even though that reply was clearly meant to be for Touya, somehow, it seemed to be meant for N as well.

"Well, worried or not, we better leave! He is the king of Team Plasma that I've always told you about," Touya stated, pointing towards the said person.

Touko pushed away his hands and walked forward. "I know."

Touya's eyes rounded; his mouth was slightly agape. _What did she say?_

Not just Touya's, even N's. He tried to put up an unfazed expression, even though he was actually feeling Butterfree in his stomach. He had known that this day would come; the moment he had lied to her, he knew that she would find out eventually, but still, he did not rehearse any lines in preparation. The dragon behind him roared as a warning, but Touko kept progressing nonetheless, as if fearless. N raised a hand to silence it, waiting impatiently for Touko to say her next words.

"Touko..." he spoke as the brunette stopped in front of him.

"N."

He quivered upon hearing that name. She used to call him 'Natural', until today...

"Touko, I can explain—"

"You don't have to. Ghetsis has explained everything."

Yet another surprise-filled word had occupied his head: _Ghetsis?_

But before he could speak further, Touko cut him in, voice trembling, "Did you enjoy using me?"

Those words stung painfully, even more than Beedrill's needle.

"Did you enjoy making a fool out of me?" Her tone was slightly louder.

N gripped his two fists.

"Did you enjoy lying to me? And all this while, I've foolishly called you 'Natural' every time we meet."

He closed his eyes.

"I told you everything about my life; they were all the truth. But what about yours?"

He was surpassing his patience.

"What you said about being alone... I felt sorry for you. And I believed them... I believed them! But what about you?"

He took a deep breath.

"Are you just trying to fish out information about my brother from me? What am I to you?"

He could not bear to listen any longer.

"Did you..."

He opened his eyes, attempting to protest against all those tormenting lies.

"Did you enjoy..."

But then, he saw that she was frowning. And her eyes...

"Did you enjoy... destroying our friendship?"

... were brimmed with tears.

His eyes, his hands, his heart; they immediately softened. Hesitantly, he moved a hand towards her face, hoping to calm her down and brush away the teardrops.

However, Touya ran ahead and did what a protective brother would normally do under such circumstances; he slapped away his hand, spitting with an incensed scowl, "Don't touch her with your filthy hand."

N sighed. He knew that it was futile trying to explain any further, especially when one was in such state. Instead, he told him, "Challenge me if you dare. I'll be waiting at the Pokémon League." He then proceeded to command Zekrom, "Let's go."

The dragon only nodded silently. Static sounds ringed as it activated its generator-tail once more. The Plasma king hopped onto his newly acquired partner's back, readying himself to leave.

But from behind him came three deathly words that he had never hoped to hear.

"I. Hate. You."

Touko's voice was deadpanned.

Though hurt, he chose to ignore it. And with a fire of electricity from Zekrom's mouth, he escaped Dragonspiral Tower from the shattered hole on the wall.**  
**

* * *

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

**_P.S._ **_In case you're wondering, 'Kizuna' means 'Bond'._


End file.
